As South Park’s future on the 2025 TV schedule turns into more and more extra unclear within the controversial shadow of Skydance Media’s impending Paramount International acquisition, one of many animated comedy’s greatest scandals from years previous has returned to the limelight. Isaac Hayes III, son of the enduring musician who voiced fan-favorite character Chef for 9 seasons, is now sharing what he says is the reality behind the actor’s extremely publicized exit that got here months after one in every of South Park’s most outrageous eps, the Scientology-skewering “Trapped within the Closet.”
The episode first aired in November 2005 to minimal backlash, and with Hayes having purposefully been ignored of the artistic course of, as he’d been a part of the Scientology group for the reason that Nineteen Nineties. A couple of months later, the icon behind Shaft’s theme suffered a stroke, which was itself quickly adopted by his statement-buttressed South Park resignation that primarily accused the present of non secular bigotry. However Hayes III doesn’t purchase that these have been truly his father’s phrases.
Talking with Cracked almost a decade after he first questioned the plausibility of his father’s South Park departure, Hayes III says that his father was not in a medically sound way of thinking on the time for such life-altering choices to have been made. In his phrases:
At the moment, my father was recovering from a stroke — actually studying the way to discuss, studying the way to perform. I visited my father. He was actually struggling typically to even communicate and say phrases. On the time, the those that have been round him have been largely Scientologists — his publicists and administration. These choices about his involvement within the present, his leaving the present, have been made by these individuals and never him. He would have by no means stop that present.
Isaac Hayes III says there have been a number of causes to consider that his late father would not have stop South Park on his personal accord, and his monetary state of affairs performed an enormous half in it. He continued:
He beloved that present, and he was making some huge cash doing that present. So, I take difficulty with the way in which these choices have been made on his behalf as a result of it put him able to really should go on the highway and tour earlier than he was able to tour.
With South Park recognition exploding and increasing all through that first decade of its existence, Isaac Hayes’ vocal and musical work as Chef allowed him to tug again from the struggles of getting to go on tour so typically. Hayes III mentioned that within the aftermath of his stroke, with out the present’s revenue, his father was pressured into dealing with the stresses of going again on the highway, and he “one hundred pc” believes that having to tour once more so rapidly contributed closely to the musician dying simply two years later, in August 2008.
Isaac Hayes’ Son Does not Assume He Ever Would Have Deliberately Left The Present
Taking to X to share the interview, Hayes III made it clear that his dad had a blast voicing Chef over time, and was each appreciative and welcoming of its fandom. To that finish, he thinks the Oscar winner would nonetheless be an important a part of the South Park household had well being points and different elements not derailed issues.
My dad beloved Matt and Trey. He beloved that character. He beloved the present. He beloved what it meant. He would have stayed concerned all the way in which till proper now. To at the present time, he would nonetheless be on the present. That’s the half that frustrates me. I don’t assume Matt and Trey knew that on the time, as a result of, even his circle of relatives, we weren’t at all times allowed to be in that inside circle. Anyone that has a celeb father or mother, typically the core workforce round them, Scientology or not, generally is a barrier to their household and private relationships.
Across the time of Hayes’ stroke and sequence exit, he did not communicate publicly very a lot concerning the sequence, leaving Stone and Parker to take the actors’ assertion at face worth. These then-unresolved frustrations led to a different notoriously darkish South Park episode, the Season 10 premiere “The Return of Chef,” which utilized Hayes beforehand recorded dialogue as Chef turned a brainwashed Scientology follower earlier than being ruthlessly killed off.
Hayes III even says he understands that Stone and Parker put that story collectively whereas at nighttime about what was truly occurring, and that he understands “feelings have been excessive.” That mentioned, he nonetheless would not assume the way in which Chef’s dying made a lot sense within the scope of issues.
Isaac Hayes Allegedly Wasn’t Bothered At All By South Park’s Content material
Isaac Hayes III made it clear his father had an easy-going persona and humorousness, and that he wasn’t the type of one who took offense to issues that have been clearly meant to be humorous, even when satire was concerned. Which is not to say he essentially would have thrown South Park marathons on in his free time, however Hayes III mentioned he was much more appreciative of the fandom Chef garnered than he ever was upset by the present’s content material. When requested if the present’s Chef materials aligned together with his father’s persona, he answered:
It completely matched him. My father had an incredible humorousness; he was a really cool man. He was severe, however didn’t take himself too significantly. He was by no means personally bothered by the fabric in any respect. Once more, it gave him a brand new legion of followers, and it helped join these individuals together with his music. Simply in watching the reveals, I don’t ever assume there was something out of bounds. They undoubtedly pushed boundaries, don’t get me twisted, however he understood that you simply’re not speculated to take it so significantly. It’s severe commentary to not be taken significantly, which is attention-grabbing.
It is attention-grabbing that Isaac Hayes III has grow to be so candid about his father’s South Park legacy, and at some extent when its future is in turmoil concerning a father or mother firm that not too long ago axed The Late Present with Stephen Colbert. Maybe it was solely as a result of somebody reached out to him and requested for his ideas, however I am curious to see if something attention-grabbing occurs within the aftermath. Similar to, maybe clearly, the voice actor becoming a member of the present to pay homage to Chef not directly.
For now, followers can stream South Park‘s seasons with a Max subscription, whereas its’ standalone streaming specials are nonetheless accessible to look at with a Paramount+ subscription.